RIK: Turnout by 6 p.m. CET was 45.67 percent

BELGRADE - The turnout at the snap parliamentary poll in Serbia by 6 p.m. CET was 45.67 percent and if the trend continues, the turnout by the end of the vote should be between 53 and 55 percent, the Electoral Commission of the Republic of Serbia (RIK) stated on Sunday.

RIK President Dejan Djurdjevic said the polling stations would close at 8 p.m. CET and stressed that the vote had been without incidents, apart from one polling station in Novi Pazar not opening.

There have been small incidents that were resolved on the fly, he told a news conference.

RIK will begin releasing the preliminary results from 10 p.m. CET, he said.

RIK does not state results based on samples, but solely on mathematical calculations, he stressed.

There will be three more news conferences, at 10, 11 and 12 p.m. CET, he pointed out, adding that the vote in the US and UK had been conducted earlier because of the time difference, but that the results, as well as the results of the vote conducted in penitentiary facilities, would be announced after 8 p.m. CET.

Elections figures show 41.1 percent of Serbia’s eligible voter population turned out to vote in the country’s early parliamentary elections by 5 p.m. Sunday, the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) said.

Speaking at a press conference at the Tanjug Press Club, CeSID Executive Director Marko Blagojevic said that viewed by regions, turnout was highest in central Serbia (42.5 percent), Belgrade (38.9 percent), and Vojvodina (40.4 percent).

Figures from the previous parliamentary elections show 44.1 percent and 42.7 percent of the voter body going to the polls by 5 p.m in 2012 and 2008, respectively.

Tanjug and CeSID...